Exploding a Planet

If it could, how may a planet explode?

An old article in Science Digest gave plausible arguments supporting the possibility that the space between Mars and Jupiter originally had an orbiting planet, a giant the size of Saturn that exploded (reference details in ref.1 at end under 'Printed references').

A fraction of the exploded debris remained in the vicinity and became the Asteroid Belt, some were expelled to the farthest influence of the Sun and enveloped the Solar System globally as a shell of cometary cloud, and the rest escaped to interstellar space. The shell of cometary cloud is also known as Oort Cloud.

Intriguing descriptions of observable conditions on the Solar System’s planets and other bodies were detailed by the article that arguably resulted from the explosion.

More intriguing though is regarding a law developed by the Canadian astronomer Micahael Ovenden of the University of British Columbia. Ovenden’s calculations showed that the Solar System was unstable without a planet between Mars and Jupiter. He predicted that the planets would seek other new orbits if the Solar System encounters stabilizing forces such as due to passage through interstellar dust clouds.

Massive interstellar clouds are encountered by the Solar System above and below the galactic plane on passages every 30 million years as the Solar System oscillates also up and down in the galactic plane (like wave movement) while orbiting the galactic center once in 220 million years. More information about the Solar System’s galactic oscillations and other relevant data may be read in the internet. Listed at the end under “Web references” are some notable site labels/addresses returned by the suggested search key "gallactic oscillation".

If the orbits of planets are unstable, the instability may have been a relatively recent condition, acquired within a time frame that does not allow stabilization. The missing planet between Mars and Jupiter could have exploded, according to the article, approximately 4 million years ago (say around 4,000,000 B.C.). Current information from the internet placed the presumed explosion at around 3,200,000 B.C.

A much farther and more massive belt of asteroids called Kuiper Belt, in the area of the planets Neptune and Pluto, is also speculated to have origins from another exploded planet, although there seems to be no mention of unstable orbits related to it. Kuiper Belt extends in width, from the Sun, at 30 A.U. to 55 A.U. Neptune’s average distance from the sun is 30.1 A.U., while that of Pluto is 39.5 A.U. (1 A.U. is the average distance of Earth from the Sun, approximately 93 million miles).

Planet explosions have been frequently speculated, and the abbreviations EPH and MEPH may be encountered, representing respectively, Exploded Planet Hypothesis and Multi Exploded Planet Hypothesis. Listed at the end under “Web references” are some notable sites / addresses returned by the suggested search keys "exploded planet hypothesis", "multi exploded planet hypothesis", "exploded planet", or "planet explosion".

Some scientists are dubious on concepts regarding Exploded Planet Hypothesis, still, if there is chance at all, it may be worthwhile to speculatively try “Exploding a Planet”. An “Explosive Earth Hypothesis” is more uncomfortable to consider. 

Nuclear forces are often considered in connection with exploded planet hypothesis. There might be other forces however, that could be also involved, though much weaker. The author’s familiarity with natural forces so far is limited to steam, in the familiar whistle of a kettle while boiling water for coffee. Steam power is actually nothing to sneeze at. Old and poorly maintained boilers that explode have been known to blast through boiler rooms.

One thing that may be considered with a Mars-Jupiter EPH is the possible abundance of water on the exploded planet, considering the volume of comets in the Oort Cloud. If comets were also the products of, or if abundant water presumably exist on, the hypothesized exploded planet for the Kuiper Belt, it might suggest that abundant water is ever present, if not a factor in planetary explosions.

A water world, some moon of Jupiter, was the setting of a half-forgotten science fiction story read some very long time ago, somewhere. Ice on top of deep waters cover all surfaces of the moon criss-crossed with fissures that from time to time let off steam from the dephths, reducing the moon's internal heat through the moon's bottom floor.

Such environment may exist on water worlds the sun barely heats, aggravated from time to time by interstellar dust clouds as the solar system moves through the galaxy. Ice fissures if they exist may periodically diminish or totally close during cold periods.

Ice gets thicker as surroundings get colder, automatically insulating the top regions of a freezing world from heat below. Any heat in the top open regions may radiate to outer space (black bodies radiate better than white).

The speed of heat transfer from a planet's interior to higher levels may be gathered through a property called "thermal conductivity" of the intervening substances. A site at the end under 'Web references' labelled "Thermal Conductivity of Some Common Materials" gives the related values for substances common in a planet's crust including for air, water and the latter's other phases (ice & steam).

Heat as energy builds up in a system if inputted or generated and not released to the outside. The buildup need not occur rapidly by human time scale, but a planet as a system has limits, a time could come when it explodes. Between two similar bodies at the same temperature, the bigger body takes more time to release its internal heat to the external environment because of smaller ratio for surface area versus bulk.

Internal heat is primarily generated by planetary bodies of the appropriate composition from the decay of radioactive atomic nuclei (ref.2 at end under 'Printed references'). Another source of heat may be tidal effects on the insides, liquid or otherwise, from the gravitational influences of other masses – moons, planets, the sun, etc.

Further, water is curious in that when its temperature drops to freezing and it solidifies, it gets bigger, effectively expanding. In a freezing water world, if surface ice can resist fissure, most additional expansion should be downwards under the ice, exerting more pressure below, an icy global squeeze - temperatures rise and heats increase.

There could also be other sources, common or exotic, familiar only to energy experts.

As a different speculative factor, the planet's tectonic plate may be assumed to buckle or plow in and introduce water entrapped underground and in rocks or by other means (see ref.3 at end) deeper into the interior. It may need computer stimulation to see what happen and could be interesting. However to explode a planet, accumulating interior heat not radiated to space could be primary consideration. The speculative scenario if possible may be additional fireworks.

Another scenario is for the outer planets to have higher compositions of lighter substances like water. Water depths may be deep enough that water remains water without expanding to steam at the bottom, until accumulating heat raises temperatures to high enough levels.

If accumulating heat is not released to the outside fast enough, temperature rises until a higher temperature allows the releasing surface area to release all incoming or generated heat, otherwise… BOOM. A planet explodes.

(Incidentally, factors that result to Earth's global warming could have unknown effects on Earth’s interior. Possibly at least there may be effects on Earth's crust or tectonic plates, with resulting influences on volcanic activity).

Another possible factor for planetary explosions could be increasing volume of steam that may accumulate under a planet's tectonic plates (see ref.3 at end), or below the covering ice surface of a frozen world. Even with convection currents considered, steam may become thick enough to be an effective barrier to the vertical flow of heat from the lower levels to upper regions. Over time steam quantity as well as temperature and pressure could steadily increase. So again, BOOM - there may be more ways than one in 'Exploding A Planet'.

("Explosive Earth hypotheses" were later considered indicating that the magnetic fields generated by rotating astronomical bodies may be a prime factor for their explosion. The explosive forces unleashed may explode bodies as little as Earth to as extremely big as an entire galaxy - in "Dowsing for Water, Pre-exploding Planet Earth and Exploding Galaxies" at end under 'Related hubs', or thru http://hotshorturl.com/adt31 )

(search key: Gallactic oscillation)

site label: Terrestrial record of the Solar System’s oscillation about... *****site address: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v317/n6035/abs/317338a0.html (opening title: Terrestrial record of the Solar System’s oscillation about the galactic plane)

(search key: Exploded Planet Hypothesis)
site label: The Exploded Planet Hypothesis – 2000 *****site address: http://www.metaresearch.org/solar system/eph/eph2000.asp

(search key: Multi Exploded Planet Hypothesis)

site label: Reviews2 *****site_address: http://www.eridu.co.uk/Author/Bookshop/Phoenix/Reviews2/reviews2.html

site label: Earth - a Moving Target. Asteroids, Craters, impacts, Gulf of ... *****site address: http://www.world-mysteries.com/sci_movingtarget.htm (opening title: Earth - a Moving Target)

(search key: exploded planet)

site label: Exploding Planet Hypothesis *****site address: http://www.enterprisemission.com/comets.html (opening title: A Key to the Mystery of Comet Origins ... in the Current Visit of Hale Bopp?)

(search key: Planet Explosion)

site label: Planetary Explosion Mechanisms *****site address: http://www.metaresearch.org/solar system/eph/PlanetExplosions.asp

(search key: Kuiper Belt)

site label: Kuiper Belt Wikipedia *****site address: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuiper_belt

(Thermal conductivity value / data)

(ref.1) article: "Exploding Planets"; *****magazine: Science Digest, April 1982  (article author: Thomas Van Flandern - of the U.S. Naval Observatory; with a Yale Ph.D. in astronomy)

(ref.2) article: "The Moons of Saturn"; *****magazine: American, January 1982  (article authors: Laurence A. Soderblom and Terrence V. Johnson)

(ref.3)report:  "Water - 400 Miles Below Earth's Surface"; *****magazine: Discover, May 1998 (section: In The News, under 'Breakthroughs')